The release of 11 convicts who raped Bilkis Bano and killed her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots, has been challenged in the Supreme Court, which will declare its verdict today. The convicts were released by the Gujarat government in 2022.
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The men were released on Independence Day last year by the Gujarat government with the help of an obsolete law, triggering a wave of condemnation and outrage from the Opposition, activists and the civil society. Bilkis Bano said she was was not informed about the release.
Once released, the men got a hero's welcome. Some of them were seen sharing stage with a BJP MP and MLA. One of the convicts, Radheshaym Shah, had even started practicing law, which was brought to the attention of the court during the hearing.
At the Supreme Court, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had reserved its verdict in October after an 11-day hearing on the petitions, including the one filed by Bilkis Bano. The court had asked the Centre and the Gujarat government to submit the original records related to the remission.
The Gujarat government had allowed the men to walk free on basis of a 1992 remission policy, which has since been superseded by a law in 2014 which bars releases in cases of capital offence.
The state had consulted a panel that included men linked to the state's ruling BJP, after the top court asked it to take a call on the plea of a single convict, Radheshaym Shah.
The panel had justified their decision calling the men "sanskari (cultured) Brahmins" who have already served 14 years in prison and displayed good behaviour.
A series of petitions were filed against the release of the convicts. The petitioners include Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra, CPM Politburo member Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma and others.
"The convicts' death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment. How could they be released after serving 14 years in such a situation? Why are other prisoners not given the relief of release?" the top court had questioned during the hearing, commenting that the Gujarat government is on "thin ice" over the early release.
On behalf of the Gujarat government, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said since the men were convicted in 2008, they had to be considered under the 1992 policy.
Bilkis Bano was 21 years old and five months' pregnant when she was gang-raped while fleeing during the communal riots that broke out after the fire in Sabarmati Express in which 59 kar sevaks were killed. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven family members slaughtered in the riots.
